Eclectic Cooking in the Pacific Northwest

Got home from work feeling a little under the weather and stressed from work. I think everyone has those days when they simply need easy to fix comfort food. Well, here is one of my indulgences. It looks great, prepares with very little work, and is utterly edible. In addition, it is very flexible and prepared with stock items on hand (except for the oysters). This recipe was inspired by Tadashi Ono’s excellent book Japanese Hot Pots: Comforting One-Pot Meals.

In addition to oysters, this dish highlights the fudge-adjacent flavor of hatcho-miso. For those of you that haven’t used it before, hatcho is a specific type of aged and pressed miso that provides a decadent, rich flavor to this dish. …

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One day, while discussing with a co-worker what Brinn and I had prepared for our traditional Monday night dinner, it struck me, somewhere, that we had drifted a fair ways away from mainstream modern culture. It wasn’t that our dinner was odd or exotic; it was some pretty tasty smoked chicken ravioli in a nice walnut cream sauce (and some side dishes and such). What was culturally out of step with our Monday dinner was two things: 1) That we sat down at the table and enjoyed a relaxed meal (like together) and 2) The food was prepared from components. None of it was prepackaged.

Now the second item, making fresh food from real ingredients, is a subject that I want to defer talking about until another time and something that I will probably come back to regularly. I’m not a fanatic or anything, but it is important to talk about. But the first item deserves some attention as well and talking about it may give you some perspective into how life around our home works.

I am not going to even try to avoid sounding preachy about this one; sharing food, meals, and the preparation of them is a vital part of how you as a person and your household are defined. Its not just a good idea, or a nice thing, it is mandatory as a human being. I feel that the quality of your life degrades when you do not perform this simple, simple act. …